Lili’s smirk wasn’t the warm kind. It was sharp, like she’d just pulled a knife from her sleeve.

  “Then tell me,” she said, head tilted, “why couldn’t you save your family?”

  Leo’s breath snagged. “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  His fists clenched. “You see our memories . You know I wasn’t there—”

  “Answer, not excuses.”

  “I WASN’T THERE!” he roared.

  “Wrong.” Calm. Cold. “You weren’t strong enough.”

  Leo staggered back like she’d slapped him.

  “When you got home,” she went on, “your mom was still breathing. Your dad too. By your aura you could enhance there physical power so they can withstand that much pain. You could’ve pulled them back. But you never learned it. You drilled fireballs and sword swings like a damn show-off.”

  His mouth opened. Nothing came.

  “You prepped to save yourself,” she said, soft now. Cruel soft. “Not them.”

  The jungle went dead quiet.

  Leo’s head dropped. Shoulders shook.

  Then he looked up, eyes raw. “Teach me.”

  Lili’s smile shifted—real this time. “Good. Let’s start then.”

  Years later—riverbank, dawn creeping in

  Leo’s voice, low and steady, over flashes Twelve-year-old me charging Lili with a stick-sword.

  She sidesteps, whacks my head. I eat dirt.

  “She drilled me till I couldn’t stand.”

  Fireball fizzles. Again. Again.

  BOOM—tree explodes. Lili claps. “Twelve: low-grade down. Fourteen: high-tier unlocked.”

  Lyra shaping water into a perfect spiral, soaked and grinning.

  Me in a magic circle—void tendrils, eyes gold and violet, power crackling.

  “She threw me at dragons.”

  Dragon slash rips a mountain.

  I raise my hand—same slash, my own. “Void Reclaim, Air manipulation Mine now.”

  I blink—see three minutes ahead by using echoes of forgotton. Dodge. Strike.

  “I Mastered my karate.”

  Lili guiding my aura—vortex explodes. Mana and aura braid like rope.

  “She taught me balance.”

  *Colossal beast. I’m down. Lili blasts it off me, screaming like a pissed-off teacher.

  “Some days I lost. She saved my ass. Every time.”

  'Now It's been seven years since I and Lyra meet with Lili' Leo thought.

  Riverbank—now Leo panted, sweat cooling.

  “Lyra asleep?” Lili nodded, tired smile.

  “Kid’s killing it. Halfway through high-grade.”

  He closed his eyes. “Good.” Quiet.

  Then Lili, soft: “Thank you.” Leo blinked. “For what? We should be the one who should thank you instead”

  Lili speak up said “I was gonna teach you basics, kick you to the capital. Done.”

  She laughed, shaky. “But you two… you stuck and Made me want humans around again.”

  Leo grinned.

  Then saw her face fall. “Hey. Talk.”

  She bit her lip. “You’ll hate me.”

  “Oh Nah...... Just try it once.”

  She stared at the stars and then she start explaining him her past.

  “I saw your past Leo and.............I saw the Goddess there.”

  Leo leaned back. "Yeah?"

  Lili continued “You know what? She was nice actually she was the one who gave me skills. Said I’d be safe—”

  Leo nodded "Hmmm."

  'You I'll be............. Safe. Those were the words of that goddess. She said the same to me. But in the end Burning village. Mom’s last breath. Dad’s blood." Lili’s voice cracked. “Same lie she told me.”

  Leo turned. “Huh!?” Leo didn't understand what Lili was trying to tell him and before he could ask her she now was in her deeper thoughts imagining her life. When she was a pathetic human.

  “Centuries ago. There was a old capital. They burned my family for not paying there tax even though we already paid it. I begged on streets. It was a era of ignorance."

  The time pass so much that she forgot how people even looks of that time or how the world looks like.

  "...........I — I begs people for just some food. At that time as I was young they..... They harass me. They say that I'm a child of a woman who sells her body........ Which was obviously not true."

  Her voice keeps getting lower as if any moment she would cry.

  "But then one day I was Starving under a tree. I — I thought I would die from starvation but........... The moment I blinked I was not in the world. It wasn't world. That place was something else and then she showed up—smiling she asked me."

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  ‘Power. Youth. Want it?’

  She laughed, bitter. “I said yes and...... Next day? Fire. Kids I knew—gone. The entire village was burned not even their bones were left. My new magic? Useless. Every time I decided to not kill anyone—My power automatically kills all of them. I know that those people were definitely bad. But I really don't wanna kill anyone....... At least not the innocent people.”

  Leo’s throat closed.

  “And that's why I decided to go and stay inside the forest alone. I stopped letting people in,” she whispered.

  “Till you two idiots crashed my forest.”

  He bumped her shoulder. “If you want that we don't leave you alone so we won't leave you alone.”

  She looked at him—scared, small. “Promise?”

  “Promise.”

  Then, they both climbed down from the top of the cliff and entered the cave through its entrance.

  After few day there was normal chaos Lyra’s shoes caught fire again, Leo drilled sword forms till his arms screamed, Lili shouted.

  Evening arrived, and the sun bled a deep orange across the sky. Lili, her clone, Lyra, and Leo were all gathered there. The river was so clear that you could see the fish darting beneath the surface. Nearby, dense bushes huddled against the base of the trees, where the treeline began to merge into the deep forest. They stood together on the cool, damp soil.

  Lili clapped. “Gift time, Leo!” He lit up. “Really?" He Grabbed Lyra hand in excitement—

  “Oh! I'm not the one who's giving you Leo.” Lyra said with a nervous smile on her face while her eyes closed.

  Lili goes a little closer "Follow me!"

  He froze. “…This gift explodes, doesn’t it?” Lili threw her hands up.

  “I’m not murdering you, drama queen!”

  They bickered all the way to the cave. “Leaving your clone with Lyra? Is that really okay? That thing’s a walking disaster.”

  “She’s me, but goofier. Relax.” Inside, Lili snapped. Chairs poofed. Floor split—dark spiral stairs yawning down.

  Leo leaned back. “Evil lair vibes. Hard pass.”

  “Move it, chicken.” He followed, muttering, “Huh? Bruh Note to self never trust stairways to hell…”

  Darkness swallowed them. Colder. Tighter. “Hey! can't you use Light spell?” he asked.

  “No." she said.

  Stairs stretched forever. Wind howled up like a scream.

  “Of course,” Leo groaned. “Teleport exists, but nooo…”

  Then—pressure. Aura so thick it was like crushing his lungs. Knees buckled.

  “Lili—what the—” She snapped. Teleport.

  Leo stumbled into a cavern lit by floating orbs. A thing sat on a black throne. He was having horns and at their end they were sharped like a sword and at their end they were yellow a little. Red eyes, armor like nightmares forged it. Aura like standing inside a volcano. His size was huge. His body was dark his fingers and toes nails were so long that it can alone ripped apart body. His eyes were red and he was wearing a red cloak that wrap his body.

  Leo take a jump back and he in his hands a lot of fire balls summon not only in his hands but many were summoned in even in midair Leo was trembling. “LILI—”

  “he is a FRIEND!” she yelled. “Chill!”

  Leo’s voice cracked.

  “You brought me to meet SATAN without a heads-up?!”

  “Retired Satan,” Lili corrected, grinning.

  “RETIREMENT DOESN’T DIAL DOWN THE MURDER AURA!”

  The King opened one eye. Voice like tectonic plates.

  “…This the kid?”

  Lili beamed. “Yup!”

  Leo pointed. “I am not a food okay?”

  Lili’s smile faded. “He’s not evil.”

  Leo barked a laugh. “He’s the Demon King.”

  “Was,” she said. “Forced. By her.”

  Leo went still. “The Goddess?” Lili nodded. “Needed a villain.

  She twisted a guardian king into a monster.

  "Hero nearly killed him—but wasn't able to the job. I dragged him here. Hehehe."

  Her tone then changed as if she's gonna talk on some more serious matter than this.

  "It's been Seventeen years and........ He's Dying slowly.”

  She looked at the throne. “He’s been waiting. For someone who’d listen.”

  Leo stared at the broken demon king. Then, quiet “What’s the gift?”

  Lili’s eyes glinted. “His power. If you’ll take it.”